B00B9FX0F2 EBOK Read online

  “Well, it started with the guitar lessons with Max.”

  “Max?” The name was vaguely familiar, but Jason was certain Lacey had never mentioned a Max. To his surprise, just hearing another guy’s name in connection with her made Jason’s throat tighten with jealousy.

  “He’s this guy who goes to our school, and he was teaching Lacey to play. At first I didn’t think anything of it. But then she started to spend all her time squeezing in extra lessons or going over to his house to jam. It seemed kind of like something was going on.”

  “I take it she, um, didn’t have a boyfriend?” Jason’s voice cracked on the last word, and he quickly raised his drink to his lips so Jenna wouldn’t see his face color. He hadn’t bargained on Lacey being involved with some rock-star type. He silently vowed to finish the song he’d been working on so he could show it to her when they met. If they met.

  “It figures you would ask that,” Jenna said, rolling her eyes. Her tone was playful, but Jason wondered if there was bitterness in it, too. She continued, “No, she was single, and Max so isn’t her type, which is why it was so weird that she was supposedly spending all her time with him.”

  “So you think she was using the guitar stuff as a cover for something?”

  “That’s sort of why I wanted to see you when you e-mailed me. I thought you might know something about what she was hiding. I thought you might even be something she was hiding. No offense.”

  He shook his head no, and the look of disappointment on her face pained Jason so much that part of him wanted to confess everything. Lacey had told him to find out if Jenna was her real friend. There was no doubt in Jason’s mind that she was. Before he could open his mouth, though, Jenna started to cry. He’d seen girls cry before, of course. In school when someone got an unexpected bad grade, or on a Friday night after fighting with a friend, girls had broken down, but none of them had ever cried alone with him like this. They’d sobbed to one another or to guys like Rakesh, while Jason pretended not to stare from a safe distance away. For a second, Jason froze where he was, but then he gingerly moved to the seat next to her on the couch and patted her shoulder. She leaned into him, and he put an arm awkwardly around her. “Oh god,” Jenna sniffled, “this is so embarrassing.”

  “You have nothing to be embarrassed about. I’m sorry if I said something that upset you.”

  She wiped away tears. “It’s not you. It’s just … ugh, I don’t know how to say this without making you think I’m crazy.”

  He sensed she was about to say something big. Was she going to tell him she thought Lacey was still alive? His pulse quickened, and he feared she’d be able to hear his heart beating through his shirt. He kept his voice steady when he informed her, “I won’t think you’re crazy. I swear.”

  She looked up at him, water pooling in the corners of her hazel eyes. He could hardly breathe. And then she cast her glance downward. “I just keep thinking about that night,” she sighed.

  “Oh.” The word was hollow and his shoulders went slack. Of course she didn’t think her friend was alive. He tried to hide his disappointment. But it was still an opportunity to learn more about what had happened to Lacey and who had done it. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want, but, like, what happened to her? Has anyone figured it out?”

  Jenna inhaled raggedly. “Everything had been so weird. And then the night of Roxy Choi’s party, she looked like she hadn’t slept in a week. We’d barely seen each other in school, and when I saw her she hugged me really hard. I thought she was finally going to tell me what was going on, and I was so relieved. I hated feeling like we were in a fight because neither of us can stand drama. Could stand drama. God, I don’t even know how to talk about her anymore.”

  Her shoulders heaved with another round of sobs, but she didn’t stop talking. “That night at Roxy’s, I thought things were going to go back to normal, and then she went to say hi to someone and I lost track of her. I looked for her, but I couldn’t find her. Eventually, I had to leave to make my curfew. Then when I didn’t hear from her that weekend, I got so angry.”

  She buried her head in her hands, and Jason rubbed her back. When she could speak again, she continued, “I just … I really miss her. I hate myself for being mad at her after that party. I know I’m obsessing, but I can’t stop thinking about that night. I wish I had found her before I left. I know it’s crazy, but I’m getting this weird vibe, like I could have changed something.”

  “I’m sure whatever was going on with her wasn’t about you.” She loves you, he wanted to add. You and I, we’re the only people she trusts. Now more than ever he was sure Lacey had a good reason for hiding, and they were going to figure it out together. He just had to tell Lacey Jenna was on their side. Instinctively, he reached for her hand, and she squeezed it gratefully.

  “It’s just … I’ve been on Roxy Choi’s balcony, and you have to be pretty clumsy to fall off it backward. The upstairs was off-limits — I don’t even know why she would have been up there in the first place. Maybe I’m just obsessing over it, but I feel like I’m missing part of the story.”

  “You’re not obsessing. And none of this sounds crazy. You miss your friend — that’s really normal. I can’t even imagine going through what you’ve been through.”

  For the first time since she arrived, she smiled. “Honestly, it feels really good to talk. With her gone, I’ve been keeping all this stuff to myself, and I didn’t realize how badly I needed to get it out.”

  Jason wished he could tell her how much he agreed. Instead he told her she could talk to him anytime. “Seriously, I’m always free. Text me, call me.”

  “Thank you for not thinking I’m crazy. I really feel like I can trust you.”

  Pushing everything he wasn’t telling her to the back of his mind, he looked her dead in the eye and responded, “You can.”

  When Jason got home, he immediately fired off a message to Lacey informing her about his meeting with Jenna. “We can trust her,” he wrote. “I’m sure of it.” After clicking send, his mind was quieter, and he brushed his teeth and climbed into bed. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep when something woke him. Jason sat up groggily. His limbs were heavy with sleep, and his mouth felt like it was filled with cotton. He cursed himself for forgetting to bring a glass of water to bed.

  He tiptoed to the kitchen, the tile smooth against his bare feet, and opened the refrigerator door, blinking furiously when the light from within flooded the room. He poured himself water and drank it in one gulp, then refilled the glass and leaned against the counter to sip it slowly. He heard the stairs creak under the weight of footsteps and his shoulders stiffened guiltily — being out of bed in the middle of the night still made him feel like a little kid. He waited for his mom or Mark to appear in the doorway, but neither did. After a few moments of nothing more than stillness and silence, Jason told himself he was imagining things, and some of the tension eased out of his neck.

  He filled his cup one last time and returned to his room, pausing when he saw the glow of his laptop open on his desk. Of course, he’d left it on overnight before, but he hadn’t noticed it when he woke up originally. When he thought back now, though, he couldn’t remember shutting it after messaging Lacey. He gently lowered the top and then crawled back under his blankets, pulling them tightly around him.

  This time sleep didn’t come easily. His afternoon with Jenna was still fresh in his memory, and he turned her words over in his mind, wondering what he was missing. What secret was so dark Lacey had to hide it from her best friend? Knowing he had to get up in a few hours, he tried to push the questions from his mind, and willed himself to count sheep instead. Gradually, visions of fluffy white farm animals quieted his brain, and his muscles surrendered to slumber.

  And then through the darkness he heard something rustling and bolted up in bed.

  “Who’s there?” he asked, his voice thick. He squinted into the dark room, but without his glasses it was all blur
ry.

  His inquiry was met with deathly quiet, but something in Jason’s gut told him he wasn’t alone. He thought back to the creaking from the staircase. There was an intruder in the house — in his room. He knew he should get out of bed, flick on the light switch, see who — or what — was there, but fear had immobilized him. His blood pulsed violently in his ears when he heard the distinct sound of breathing. In the darkness, he couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

  “I’ve got a baseball bat.” Jason meant it to sound like a warning, but it came out in a shaky whisper. He might as well have added, “And it’s somewhere in the basement.”

  His skin went clammy, and he wondered if he was having a nightmare. The breathing sound was gone, there was no more rustling. His vision had finally adjusted to the darkness, and nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary, but just to be safe, he groped for the lamp, illuminating his empty room. His door was shut, the window closed. To be safe, he peered under the bed and gasped with fright before he realized the beast that scared him was only a dust bunny that had gathered on one of his shoes, moving in the breeze. Calm down, Jason, he told himself. Now you’re just hallucinating things. He switched off the light and waited for his own breathing to settle. Turning onto his side, he told himself it had only been a dream. He closed his eyes and tried to summon visions of the puffy, peaceful sheep that had comforted him a few minutes before, but he knew he’d only spend the rest of the night tossing and turning.

  Finally, he swung his legs out of bed, slid on his glasses, and settled at his desk, switching on his desk lamp. He wanted to see if Lacey had answered his message, but as he waited for Facebook to load, something caught his eye and made him freeze in his seat. The white border of a photograph was resting on top of an open notebook. He hadn’t left a photograph there. He never even got photos printed. Cautiously, he reached for it, sliding it toward himself carefully as if it might explode, or worse, turn to dust in his hands.

  It depicted two people leaning against a chain-link fence beneath a brilliant blue sky. It was taken from some distance away, but he knew instantly that one of them was Lacey. He blinked and then pinched his wrist. Was he dreaming? Had he not been imagining things when he’d heard the rustling in his room, the creaking on the stairs?

  He looked frantically around the room, and when he was sure there was no one else present, he examined the photograph closely. It was a candid shot. Lacey’s soft golden waves fell around her face, her eyes trained straight ahead. She was wearing a loose white T-shirt, a gray-and-red-striped skirt with bare legs and tennis shoes, and stood next to a tall guy in a bright red-and-white Brighton varsity jacket. He wore his light brown hair cropped short, and even from far away, you could tell he had the chiseled features girls stayed up at night thinking about.

  They weren’t looking at each other, but there was something about the way they were avoiding each other’s gaze, about their purposefully casual posture and ultracomposed facial expressions, that made it look like they were in the middle of an intense and secretive conversation.

  I know she was hiding something. Jenna’s words echoed in his ears.

  Jason snatched at the notebook it had been resting on. Maybe there would be some sort of note or explanation. What he saw made his heart drop. Inside the spiral binding, there was the scrap of paper where the sheet had been ripped away. Immediately, he knew which page. The song. The one he’d been writing for Lacey. He tore through the notebook, but it was gone. Whoever had been there had taken it. He overturned every item on his desk, and riffled through the pages of his textbooks, but there was no other trace of his predawn visitor.

  Remember I’ve got more experience hiding in the dark than you.

  Someone was watching Jason, that much was obvious, but it terrified him to think of who. Other than Rakesh, the only person who knew about him and Lacey was Lacey. Was she the one who’d snuck in? He’d thought about her in his bedroom before, but in his imagination what unfolded bore no resemblance to the surreal events that had just taken place.

  He tried to slip into room 207 unnoticed, but Mrs. Kimball paused her recitation of the morning announcements and turned to the door with pursed lips. Though Jason hadn’t fallen back asleep, he’d been slow to tear himself away from his computer when his alarm clock alerted him it was time to get ready for school. Instead he’d clicked refresh on his messages over and over again to see if Lacey had written anything, and as he dressed he kept his eye glued to the corner of the screen to see if her name would appear with a green dot next to it. Jason mumbled his apologies and slid into the only open desk. He cursed himself for being late. Now he had no prayer of not getting caught if he checked his phone for a response from Lacey.

  As soon as the first-period bell rang, Rakesh sidled up next to him.

  “Missed you in the student lounge this morning.”

  The hallways were full of teachers. His phone would get confiscated before he could even open Facebook. “Yeah, I overslept.”

  “Oooh, big night out with Lacey’s friend?”

  “What?” Jason said blankly before he remembered he’d told Rakesh he was meeting Jenna. “No. I mean, sort of.”

  “Why are you being so shady?”

  Without realizing it, he’d been whispering. He’d thought Jenna’s secret-agent act at the coffee shop had been a bit overdone, but now he worried they hadn’t been secretive enough.

  “Can you meet up after school today?” Jason kept looking over his shoulder. “I’ll explain everything.”

  “You’re like I Love Lucy with all this ’splaining, and I’m getting tired of playing Ricardo, even if we are both fine brown men. I want in on some of the action.”

  “Oh my god, are you seriously quoting I Love Lucy to me right now?”

  “What? I love me some Nick at Nite. Nothing wrong with that.”

  “Can you meet up after school?”

  “Will you admit that you are definitely Ethel?”

  “Rakesh!”

  “Fine, not only are you basically a total pansy, but you also have no sense of humor sometimes. But I am a good friend, so I will meet you in the parking lot after last period. Are you happy now?”

  The girl of his dreams was in hiding or worse. Maybe she’d been in his room last night, or maybe a total stranger had. “Nothing would bring me more joy,” he answered coldly.

  Molly Mara was leaning against the hood of Jason’s car, her palms spread flat behind her. In a low-cut tight purple dress and lacy black tights, she laughed with her mouth wide open and her head back, like she was offering her neck up to some hungry vampire. Molly swung her hair forward and straightened her face before looking straight into Rakesh’s eyes and telling him seriously, “You’re so funny, you should be a comedian.”

  “Never heard that one before.” Jason grumbled the words under his breath, but it was still louder than he intended. Molly and Rakesh both looked up guiltily, as if they’d been caught breaking school rules. Come to think of it, Jason was pretty sure Molly’s outfit was a dress-code violation.

  “Hi, Jason!” Molly spoke in an enthusiastic singsong. “Rakesh was just telling me how good you are at Grand Theft Auto.”

  “Actually, I was telling her how much better I am.”

  Molly laughed again, and Jason glared at Rakesh, who just shrugged. It wasn’t his fault he shone like a candle to Roosevelt’s female population of moths. When nobody spoke, Molly straightened up and shook out her hair.

  “I guess I should let you two boys go be boys. I’ll see you later, Rakesh.”

  “OMG you are just so hilarious,” Jason mimicked when she was out of earshot.

  “Yeah, I am hilarious, don’t hate.”

  “Whatever.” Jason was sullen as he started the car. He hadn’t been able to check Facebook until last period, and Lacey’s message had been brief.

  I knew I could count on you. Tell Jenna about me. She might be freaked out, but you have to make her understand. If she doesn’t believe you, a
sk her if she still has the penguin’s shirt in the back of her closet. And tell her I’m so, so sorry I can’t talk to her myself — tell her I’m sorry about everything.

  There was no mention of being in his room, no enlightening backstory about the photo. He knew hearing from Lacey at all was a good sign, but she wasn’t helping with Jason’s confusion. It was too strange to be relieved she hadn’t said anything about the song.

  “Okay, what is up with you?” Rakesh asked angrily. “You won’t tell me anything, and now you’re mad because Molly likes me?”

  “I don’t care that Molly likes you. I just have stuff going on.”

  “I’m trying to help you! What even happened yesterday?”

  Jason recounted his coffee with Jenna as he navigated the familiar streets of Oakdale, and then he began to describe the strange nighttime encounter. By the time he was done with the story, they were both slumped on the sofa in Jason’s den.

  “Can I see the photo?” Rakesh said.

  Jason handed it over and watched his friend study it.

  “Lacey’s got nice legs,” Rakesh observed before Jason snatched it back, taking his own turn trying to extract some meaning from the image in his hands. The guy gave Jason the creeps. The photo had to have something to do with the secret Lacey had been keeping.

  “When are you going to tell Jenna?” Rakesh asked finally, his tone conciliatory.

  “I was going to text her when you left, but if you’re going to sit on my couch all night, I’ll do it now.”

  “You’re going to tell her Lacey’s alive over text?”

  Jason paused. “I’ll see if she has a Skype log-in. Is that better?”

  Rakesh turned on the TV and started flipping through channels, but when the response came through on Jason’s phone, he took his eyes off The Real Housewives and looked down at the screen.

  I have to wait until my parents go to bed, but my Skype is jennayeahyeahyeah. Midnight?